It’s McKenzie’s show now

Spent the better part of a week doing background on Reggie McKenzie, the first person other than Al Davis to run a Raiders draft room since 1963.

Often times when doing these kinds of stories, you put out a dozen or so phone calls and are satisfied with getting enough response to fill the space allotted.

In the case of McKenzie, the callback rate was nearly 100 percent, including the last one today by Ron Wolf, who said he had just returned to the country. Wolf is the personnel executive who was responsible along with Davis for drafting McKenzie with the Los Angeles Raiders, and the man who hired him to be a scout with the Green Bay Packers more than 17 years ago.

Here’s the link to the Web exclusive story about McKenzie’s relationship with his twin Raleigh and the brotherly competition that started at birth and continues to this day.

I’ve also filed a series of quotes from the numerous sources contacted for the story that hasn’t posted yet.

— McKenzie has an additional 10 roster spots available heading into training camp as the NFL expanded rosters from 80 to 90 players Tuesday

— Raiders tight end Brandon Myers talked with students aged 16-20 about what it took to be successful in the interview process at the Old Navy store in San Leandro, Ca. It was part of The Bridges to Work Program, a non-profit foundation of the Mariott hotels which helps kids with disabilities transition from school and enter the work force.

— Raiders offensive lineman Zach Hurd is participating in a Q&A session with kids at East Oakland Pride elementary school Tuesday in an evente sponsored by the Raiders and Playworks, a national non-profit organization out of Oakland that supports learning by providing safe, inclusive play and physical activity to low-income schools at recess and throughout the school day.

The Raiders donated a $35,000 grant to refurbish the school’s playground in 2010. The kids, in turn, have painted a Raiders’ shield on their blacktop.

QB’s hate pressure up the middle, it’s the most disruptive thing for them to face, but not many players can rush the passer from the inside, Tommy Kelly is probably the best at it.

Kelly has 14.5 sacks over the last 2 years, most by any interior lineman in the NFL and he’s done it while facing his fair share of double-teams.

If Tommy Kelly played for New York, Chicago, Dallas, Washington or Philly the last couple of years (or if we were a winning team) he’d have a pair of Pro Bowls by now and a ton of media recognition.

That being said, we do need to cut down his snaps, same goes for Seymour, Bryant and Houston need to spend more time inside and less outside, not only to keep the old guys fresh, but to groom them as our starting DT’s in a year or two.

I’d love to sign-draft another DE to handle the left side on 1st and 2nd downs, with Tollefson coming in on passing situations, that would allow us to play a 4 man rotation inside with Kelly-Seymour-Bryant-Houston wearing out Centers and Guards.